Paul Sinha, Corn Exchange

Paul Sinha was Friday night’s comedy star. Although probably known to most people as the white-suited, intellectually scary and fiercely competitive, professional quizzer from ITV’s The Chase, Paul has been on the comedy circuit for some 20 years, having eschewed a career in medicine for a much more precarious living, much to the distress of his parents.

Paul claimed to have saved thousands of lives in the NHS… by giving up medicine! The NHS’s loss was our gain as stand-up comedy was clearly Paul’s metier.

His Shout out to my Ex show offered a poignant but humorous interpretation of a deeply personal episode in Paul’s life. He was fast, he was smart, he was lively and hardly stopped for breath during his two-hour performance, captivating his audience with his self-effacing humour and complete candour.

Devizes responded well, picking up quickly on the nuances of his delivery, which left the audience buzzing. They enjoyed it and it seemed that he did too.

Then it was the audience’s turn. Ask me anything said Paul and ask they did. We were all desperate to learn about the personalities and the behind the scenes machinations of the Chase and of quizzing, not to mention his white suits. One lady asked if he wanted to come for a curry. Sadly he declined, needing an early night ahead of a major quiz tournament.

Paul Sinha’s show could not have been more different from Ann Widdecombe’s, which is surely what a Festival is all about.

Vivienne Cuckow